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Carlisle's Robotics teams of 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders
at FLL District Tournament at Central State University.

Also in the photograph, Ohio Lead FLL Referee Richard Storrick.

January 14, 2012

News Briefs

COSI on Wheels. Thanks, PTO, for bringing COSI on Wheels to school, and thanks to our parent volunteers for helping students engage in the science of weather!
Carlisle Robotics Teams. The Carlisle Robotics teams made us all proud at districts. One team won the district teamwork trophy; the other won the invitation as alternate to state! Thanks to our wonderful volunteer parents Dr. Kimmel, Aimee Bowser, and Brian Dalton for their heavy-duty support as chaperones at this two-day tournament!
Achievement Tests. Our pace is picking up as we begin the countdown to the Ohio Achievement Tests!
Math. "Show Your Work!" Students are doing a better job of showing their work on math problems.
Science. Blast off to space! We are about to study the Earth and its relationship to the Universe.
M&M Homework in Math and Science. We have started doing weekly reviews to prepare for the OAA tests.
Stock Market Game. Congratulations, Team Purplicious! This team of four girls made almost $3,000 virtual money on their $100,000 investment in just ten weeks, and concluded the game in 2nd place out of 56 area elementary teams in the Greater Cincinnati area! The stocks that paid off the most for them were Walmart and McDonalds, buying just the right amount and at the right time. Congratulations to all our future brokers for their hard work on this stock market investment simulation!
Podcast. Some of the students are working on putting together a nanoscience podcast!

Countdown to the 2012 Fifth Grade

Ohio Achievement Assessments

M&M Math and Science. The countdown for the Ohio Math and Science Achievement Assessments has begun! Starting this week we are doing our weekly reviews in preparation for the math and science OAA tests which take place in April. Why are we calling it "M&M Math and Science? To make it easy to remember that it is due on Monday! I will hand them out each Monday, and they will be due on the following Monday. That way, regardless of the family schedule, students will be able to complete their review through the week or the weekend as it suits their schedule. Preparing for the test will be sweet, with M&Ms to go with the reviews.

Help at home. Looking for ways to help your child excel on the 5th Grade OAAs? Here is one way: give them computer time to interact with my online study tables (see the links below). Bookmark them, or add them to your "Favorites". On the study tables I have listed the Ohio Math and Science standards, along with an explanation and examples to show what they mean. To the right of the explanations, I have added a list of websites that offer tutoring and fun games for engaging practice! I update these links constantly, so students should return to the study tables often. Although I am not teaching reading this year, I have also listed my reading study table. Parents, as always, should be sure to monitor their child's safe use of the Internet.

Nettling Newsline Math Study Table

Nettling Newsline Science Study Table

Nettling Newsline Reading Study Table

MATH

Great improvements! Showing how you get the answer to a math problem is important in organizing an accurate solution, plus it provides something to look back on for checking work afterwards. Students are working to get better at showing their work, and I am seeing some GREAT improvements! We are at that point in math instruction where students are also required to show fraction answers in lowest terms. We are simplifying by dividing both the top and bottom by the same number, such as 6/8 being divided by 2/2 to equal 3/4. I want to thank parents for reinforcing the importance of showing your work in math.

What's next? This week we took our exam on Unit 6 (using data, statistics, graphing, fractions, common denominators, and addition/subtraction of fractions). We have moved into Unit 7 which covers skills using exponents, order of operations, and operations with negative numbers. Students need to ask a lot of questions, which gives us all an opportunity to learn! I am really excited by the increase in the number of questions at this point -- evidence that students are taking responsibility for their own learning and for success on the test.

Math Facts. Salute to the students who continue to study their math facts! We will have a check-up this week to make sure we can all still complete 100 facts in under three minutes. Having facts memorized helps cut homework time, reduces frustration on complex problems, and sets a student up for success and math happiness!

SCIENCE

Science. We are finishing our Science Court "Statistics" and will take a test using our lab notes as a reference. We will do another one called "Seasons", as part of our space unit which starts this week. What causes seasons? Is it the distance? The earth has an elliptical orbit around the sun. Sometimes the earth is farther away from the sun, so is that was causes seasons? No! When earth is farthest away from the sun, it is June, a month in our hot season, so that can't be what causes seasons! Stay tuned, the next Science Court may reveal the evidence we need to figure out the reasons for the seasons!

READING and SOCIAL STUDIES

Reading and Social Studies. In Miss Mell's classes, students are reading the historical fiction novel classic Sign of the Beaver, set in the colonial time period. In social studies, they are focused on the economics and lifestyles of the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies, just prior to the American Revolution. Students pulled out all the stops showing their creativity in presenting their book projects. Thanks, parents, for all your home support!